While other story arcs on this season of “Parenthood” have come and gone (goodbye, Kristina’s improbable mayoral campaign; hello, Kristina’s improbable charter school plan), the destruction of Joel and Julia’s marriage has formed the spine throughout. We can and have argued about how well the show has handled all of it, and also which party is more at fault – I ran into another showrunner while I was in LA last week and we spent a good 10 minutes arguing about fault – but it’s led to many of this season’s most memorable moments (including the conclusion of last week’s episode) and some outstanding work from Sam Jaeger and Erika Christensen.
Of course, not every moment in a marital separation is a heavy one. Some are just annoying, and revolve around miscommunication, as suddenly a united parenting front becomes two separate, disagreeing parental units, as you can get a sense from this exclusive clip from tomorrow night’s episode, “The Offer”:
As I noted last week, I’m taking “Parenthood” out of the weekly reviewing rotation because I’ve found that the pieces were becoming less about the execution of the show and more about which Bravermans I approved of in any given week. I still intend to check in from time to time when the show does something notable, but since I have this clip and it’s been a few weeks since I posted anything about the show, how is everybody feeling about the season of late? Do you feel better about the charter school now that we have a few details, or does it still seem too far-fetched in the same season Kristina ran for mayor? How do you feel about Sarah’s current romantic issues (or lack thereof), especially given what we know about Hank? Did you feel more sympathy for Crosby or Camille in their recent argument? And given recent developments, do you feel more or less optimistic that Joel and Julia will reconcile before the season ends?
Have at it. As usual, “Parenthood” airs Thursdays at 10 Eastern on NBC.